Discourse 62

On the fact that from the thoughts which are moved in him, a person is known by which measure he stands: that these are they. For a man, as long as he is in the state of being a novice, fears from the hour of death. But when he has drawn near to God, he fears from the encounter of judgment. But when he has come fully before him, both are swallowed up in love. How so? When he stands by knowledge and by the practices of the body, he is terrified by the threat. And when by self-knowledge and by true practices, he lets go of his thought at every hour by the remembrance of judgment. In that he stands rightly in weeping. And by a self-discipline he is moved and governed by his knowledge and his practice. And in the nearness of God, he is beautiful. But when he has attained that knowledge of truth, by the mobility of the sensibility of the mysteries of God, and he is dissolved in hope of the future, he is swallowed up in love. That one who is carnal fears from the covering like a beast. But the rational one fears from the judgment of God. That which is a son is fit for love, and not for the rod which terrifies. But go and serve the Lord in the house of the father. For love is the abolisher of fear. And not only does it not fear, but it also becomes weary of shame. Love is the bestower of the life of sacrifice.

that he may attain to the love of God. He no longer trembles at the thought of death. For his beloved ones, because he is not yet able to bear the mystery of silence. But he becomes a fool, because of the excess of his sighs. In the true love, he is unable to be silent because of the intensity of love from his affections. Many times, while I was writing these things, my fingers remained on the paper. They did not move before the sweetness that was falling in the heart and silencing the senses. But blessed is he who is occupied with God in a continuous manner, and separates himself from all worldly things, and is alone with Him in the contemplation of His knowledge, so that even if his spirit departs, it is not long before he sees the fruits. The joy that is in God is the life-giving life of the just. And he who finds it, not only does he not suffer from incurable pains, but he is no longer concerned about his life. And he has no other sensation from that time onward, if he has truly drunk of this. Sweet is love, more than life. And sweet is the knowledge of God, from which love is born, more than honey and the honeycomb. What is the sweetness of love, which is more than life? For love, it is not difficult for him to suffer a myriad of deaths for the sake of his beloved ones. Love is the child of knowledge.

Knowledge: It is the mother of soundness of soul. Soundness of soul is a power that is born together with patience in the furnace. And what is knowledge? The sensation of life that does not die. What is life that does not die? The perception of God. Knowledge concerning God is the king of all desires, and the heart that receives it is more excellent than all sweetness on earth, because nothing is comparable to the sweetness of knowledge concerning God. O Lord, fill my heart with eternal life. Eternal life is: the finding of God. Where can the finding of God be found? It is greater than the finding of the world. From what does a human being perceive that he may receive wisdom from the Spirit? From that which teaches him the signs of humility: in his hiddenness and in his perceptions. And it is revealed to his mind how humility is acquired. And from what does he perceive that he has attained humility? From that which is pleasing to him concerning the world, that he has become pleasing to this world in its changes or in his word, and that the praise of this world is contemptible in his eyes. What are passions? They are the roots that are placed in the desires and lineages of this world, the stirrings of desire that are moved from the bodies to the market, whose roots do not cease as long as the world exists.

A human being who has drunk of divine knowledge, and has tasted and perceived something superior to these things: the thorns of these things do not enter his heart. At the onset of the thorns, a sensation takes hold that is superior to them. And the thorns of the passions do not approach, nor those that are born from them, to his heart. Rather, they stand outside, while he is at rest. It is not when the thorns of sufferings are absent that this is so, but the heart that receives them—to them it is dead and alive to something else. Not when he has withdrawn from vigilance and the labor of discernment, but because he has no disturbance in his thought. For his desire is satiated from the delight of something else. Like a person who is satiated from a pleasant and sweet meal, and his desire is filled from that sweetness and delight. After that, he sees food that is beloved and appetizing in its appearance: not only is he not inclined toward that state of emptiness, but that desire is prevented from being stirred, or there arises in him a disgust at the thought of not being occupied with it in passion; rather, the entire desire is uprooted and disturbed at the sight of it. This is not because of the repulsiveness of that [food] alone, but also because his life has been drawn from it from the beginning.

but rather, from the excellence of that other nourishment, which fills the heart with all delights, such is the health of the soul. A heart that has received the sensation of spiritual virtues truly, and the vision of the world to come, in this time its delight is in the memory of pains. And just as if a man has need of wealth, and attains to poverty, and is in need of that glorious and excellent nourishment of the palace of the kingdom, which is served, and he tastes its sweetness and flavor, and no longer are those glorious tokens found for him, and his stomach becomes empty of the delight of their taste, but he has a need to be nourished, and even upon the food of many in little. So it is with one who has drunk the health of his soul. For if he has need of that divine delight, when he is deprived of his righteousness and falls into the pit of deprivation, again he turns to that accustomed food, which is mixed with all bitterness and disturbance, and the heart does not delight, because the stomach of the soul is empty. The soul is not hungry, even bitter things become sweet for it. And again: not every man is worthy of the treasure and its likeness.

If the guardian of the law of vigilance and the labor of discernment, and the knowledge of the taste of life, does not approach his thought to the end of the magnitude of the passions, and he does not stand in astonishment that the passions have not entered the heart, but rather that satiety of the spiritual vision which is filled with knowledge, and the trembling of the wondrous visions that are found in it, keeps them from approaching their time. Not as if he were fleeing from vigilance, as I said, and the labor of discernment, which are the guardians of the knowledge of truth and spiritual light, but because there is no astonishment for the thought, on account of the causes that we have mentioned. The food of the poor is known to the rich, and the sustenance of the pure to the strong. But wealth and strength are established by vigilance and effort. And to this, nature bears witness. Insofar as a person is diligent in vigilance and effort, and in the wakefulness of the guardian of his treasure, then his boundary relaxes, he becomes ill and is dissolved. Even if he had much strength from his former health, yet when he does not receive addition, he ends in weakness and deficiency. Nor does nature teach us about these things: what is there from the heavenly that has a likeness, whose demonstration is not found among us?

Behold, even our Lord confirmed the spiritual ones, the ascetics, and established all of them in their souls. Not only those of a slight fear of error, but also those of a true body, and the perfection and truth of the future things for us. Do not marvel at what I have said: not only until the fruit is seen is there labor, but also until the burden; for as long as there is labor, there is burden. I call the grave a burden. There is one who, when he hears the fruit, strikes the cold from himself. He who is mixed with passions and is loosed for the world, it is not possible that his health should increase for him. I say, then: need and vision. Jesus Christ, king of the worlds, has set a limit to your desire. Great is the man who increases in his labor for God and rules his life in him, more than any man who is on earth, and more than any work that is accomplished by the rational. When you pray to God, say this one thing to him: Lord, set a limit that I may die to the world of this in truth, and gather it there, the whole prayer. And hasten that by deed you may finish this in yourself. If, then, to prayer also action is joined, truly in the freedom of Christ you stand. The death of the world is this: not only that a man is removed from the mixture of the passions of his will.

But this is the true death from the world, that which is not disturbed by anyone for the world’s goods through the agitation of his mind. They know by pure meditation that they are remembered; they are concealed from sufferings when they encounter them. And they know this: those who have made a trial of themselves. And they are ashamed of the causes of their proximity to them. When you are eager to do something for the love of God, set the limit of death upon your desire. Thus, even in this action, you will be equal to the rank of martyrdom, in every suffering and affliction that befalls you within that limit, if until the end you remain in it and do not withdraw. A weak meditation of thought weakens the power of endurance. But a firm intention gives even invincible strength to the one who follows his meditation. Lord, the equalizer of my life, because of the life that is yours. This conduct of the world resembles something of the writings, which only the wise understand. Whoever wishes, and whenever a person wants, he adds to and subtracts from it, and makes a change in his writings. But the conduct of the future resembles the edicts that are brought to the magi, and the king’s seal is set upon them, so that no addition or subtraction may be made in them. As long as they are among changes, see yourselves.

And when they are masters over the book of life, and the book is in their hands, it is possible to examine and to make in it an addition of good conduct, and to extract from it the fruits of the first conduct without freedom. They are masters to make in it a life of virtues, as long as they exist. And God considers every change that they make in it, that they may be worthy of eternal life, before they approach before the king, and he sets his seal upon them. As long as they are in this world, God does not set his seal, neither upon their good deeds nor upon their evil deeds, until the hour of departure, when they complete the work of their place and begin the journey. And it is fitting for us now to do, as the blessed Mar Ephrem said: that we should prepare ourselves, like a prepared ship, for when the spirit departs, it does not know; and for the force of when the call of the bell that takes away calls it, it does not know; and for the lodging of when the master of the house commands to clear it, it does not know. And if these are prepared for us because of a small separation, how much more is it fitting for us, who are ours, to be prepared and ready before that great separation of the day of departure! So that Christ may give us the middle of our life, that the prepared may cross that great bridge and the gate of the new world. To him is glory forever and ever. Amen.